美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-11-01

Catastrophic, historic, unthinkable, those are some of the words being used to describe the impact of the storm named Sandy that hit the U.S. on Monday. Now, whenthat happened, when it made landfall, it wasn’t a hurricane, it was technically¹ a post tropical storm, because energy was coming from a different source. Whatever you want to call it, Sandy was very, very dangerous. Flooding brought on by Sandy’s wind and rain and the storm surge, the waves that were created along the coast. Some towns in New Jersey² were under four or five feet of water. Floodwaters rushed into New York City subway tunnels as well. Sandy is being blamed for at least 30 deaths across the U.S. And this, that’s a power transformer that blew in New York. Nearly eight million people lost power because of Sandy, and some officials said it could be out for days. 

That kind of gives you an idea about how strong Sandy’s winds were. And so does this, the smoke you are seeing there, the front of the building just collapsed³, apparently⁴ from the wind. You might wonder how wind can be that strong. And it could have something to do with where this thing hit. Tom Foreman breaks down the science. 

As the winds of Hurricane Sandy have spread out over hundreds of miles, the estimate of how much damage they can do has also grown to $7 billion. How is that possible from wind alone? Well, we’ve sliced up hurricane Erin here into layers to show you what, look at the bottom down there. You see all that red, that’s where the wind is the most intense. As you move up in the storm, it becomes less intense once you get several miles in the air, but all of the tallest buildings on the east coast fit right done in that red zone, and in as strange way, they actually make the storm more ferocious⁵ for the people who are living there. Let me show you why. If you have an air flow passing over an empty field or perhaps low buildings, it can do so largely unimpeded. But once you introduce something like New York City to the equation here, you change everything, because now the air has to speed up to get around all those buildings and maintain its air flow to go over those buildings, and that magnifies three things that are very dangerous about hurricane winds. First of all, it makes them more explosive. In aerospace⁶ terms, whenever an airflow hit’s a square or rectangular object, it creates what’s called turbulent flow. In simple layman’s terms, that means the air becomes all roiled⁷ up and it starts pounding against itself and against other objects, and it simply becomes more violent. 

Secondly⁸, in hurricanes, you are always talking about sustained winds, winds that will continue not for a few minutes, but for hour after hour, grinding away, looking for weak spots around doors or windows or the cornices of roofs.

And thirdly, you are talking about directional wind. That means it’s always going to be attacking from the same direction. So if it finds that weak spot, it’s going to exploit it, because it just keeps yanking away at it without letting up. All of that comes together in this terrible witch’s brew⁹ for the cities of the east coast in the winds of Sandy. 

With storms like Sandy, you expect strong winds and heavy rain, but the different effects of this storm almost unbelievable. Water. We mentioned flooding in New York subway. This is what it looked like. And those water levels won’t go down on their own. That water is going to have to be pumped out. Fire. This one broke out in a neighborhood in New York. Sandy’s winds helped it spread. At least 80 homes were destroyed by the flames. Snow. Sandy spawned¹⁰ a blizzard¹¹ in West Virginia. Parts of Maryland and North Carolina were hit with heavy snow as well. This is what part of the Jersey shore looked like yesterday. Rows of houses damaged or destroyed by the storm. And along flooded roads, rescue crews are out in boats and trucks. Some people had to wait on their roof for rescuers to arrive. Relief organizations are working to get help to the victims of this storm. You can help that too. Go to the Spotlight¹² section at cnnstudentnews.com and look for the impact your world link to find out how.

1 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

6 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

7 roiled   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的过去式和过去分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• American society is being roiled by the controversy over homosexual marriage. 当今美国社会正被有关同性恋婚姻的争论搞得不得安宁。 来自互联网
• In the past few months, instability has roiled Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas. 在过去的几个月里，西藏和藏人居住区不稳定。 来自互联网

8 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

9 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

10 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。

11 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

12 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。